Kangaroo Island

Argh! This is my second time writing this post! The first disappeared into cyberspace just as I was finishing. As a result, I'm not so enthused to be rewriting. Fortunately, the subject matter is really awesome!

On the ferry to KI

Kangaroo Island is at the southern tip of South Australia, about a 45 minute ferry ride from the mainland. The population of the island is about 2500 people, and lots of wildlife, including (I'm told) 1 000 000 wallabies! There are two main paved roads: one along the south coast, and one right through the middle. The rest of the roads are unsealed and vary in their suitability for driving. We booked 4 nights accommodation there, 2 nights at each end of the island.

Brody and the possum

We began in the east at a small, intimate hostel in Kingscote, the biggest town on the island. We arrived in the evening and made plans for the next day, after having dinner with a young German guy named Kristof. Kristof was travelling alone and in the opposite direction to us, so we were able to swap tips -- always an advantage of hostel living. The rest of the people staying there seemed to be working on nearby farms, so we didn't see much of them.

Ahhh... So cute! ( the koala too)

The next morning we got a little lost, but ended up at our desired destination, Paul's Place, an animal sanctuary. Paul rescues animals that have been orphaned, mostly as a result of their mothers being hit by cars. (By the way, I know how to rescue a Joey from its dead mother's pouch if you ever have the need.). We had soooo much fun during this three hour tour; it was a real high point of our trip so far. The farm was essentially a huge petting zoo, and we were encouraged to feed and hold all of the animals. There were kangaroos, sheep, emus, deer, possums, birds, lizards, koalas, echidnas...everything! I fell in love with the 'roos, and I'm still trying to figure out how to get one home! These kangaroos were quite tame and were wonderfully gentle and sweet. Their fur is very soft, making them surprisingly cuddly. Yes, koalas are great huggers, but their claws are long and dig in the whole time. Poor Brody even got a hole in his shirt.

One of my lovies

Emus, on the other hand, are greasy and aggressive, and not at all gentle. It really hurts when they peck food from your hands! Paul was a bit of a prankster, and at one point he placed Bill squatting against a fence, then put barley on his head and crotch while the emus had their way with him. It was pretty funny. At the end of the tour, Paul did a sheep shearing demo which ended with Brody getting thrown by Paul into a pile of fleece. He loved it!

Emus having their way with poor Bill

I made a whole video on just our visit there. (BTW, I only just realized that my videos get blurry when I post them to Youtube. They're perfect on my ipad, but I shrink them to save data when uploading! Oh well!)

After leaving Paul's, we went to cool off at a stunning beach nearby. We had to walk through a labyrinth of caves and tunnels before stumbling upon the white sand and gentle turquoise surf. It was perfect!

Afterwards, we hurried back to Kingscote to see the nightly pelican feed that you will see at the end of the video above. It was pretty entertaining to see these monstrous birds try to drown one another to steal their fish.

The next day was also super-fun. We had a short visit to a eucalyptus distillery. This family-run business smelled like Ste. Anne's Spa, and featured home and beauty products made from local eucalyptus. Who knew it was so versatile? Afterwards we went sand-tobogganing at Little Sahara, a naturally-occurring, monstrous sand dune in the middle of the island. It's all in the video! Tobogganing on sand is very fast. My old body that now gets queasy on a swing didn't love it, but the kids had a great time. We all agreed it would have been a lot more fun with a lift to take us back up because it was no easy feat to climb up the massive dunes. Unlike snow, sand doesn't hold it's shape, so each step sank up to my ankles.

One of The Remarkables

Little Sahara

Our next two nights were spent at a farmstay on the west end of the island. There was so much to love about this place. The kitchen and dining area was in a sheltered outdoor cookhouse. Rustic, but cool! There was a campfire pit of which we took advantage, of course! And the ensuite bathroom was semi-outdoors, overlooking the cattle paddock. As the sun went down, the place came to life with possums, wallabies, and kangaroos. It was so exciting! The campfire was on the wallaby expressway, and they hopped on by throughout the evening.

What a beach!

The first night we had the place to ourselves, but the second night a small tour bus of international students from the University of Adelaide joined us. We were prepared to be grumpy, but we ended up having a lot of fun with their tour guide, Scott, who showed us how to use the Southern Cross to find south, and he told us the Aborigine creation story of how KI came to be. Scott was a tank driver with the Australian army and he had also been a tour bus driver in BC, so he had many great stories and he seemed to enjoy our company too. Best of all, he shared his marshmallows.

The west end of the island was all about nature too. We visited a couple seal colonies, fabulous rock formations called The Remarkables, and another beach. Really, the video says it all. KI was certainly a worthwhile detour!

 

This guy let me get really close